Protect the Park Service

IF YOU VISIT Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico -- famous for its ancestral cliff dwellings -- you can see a good example of the National Park Service's best practices.

Park regulations keep the public a safe distance from fragile archaeological sites. Yet ladders allow eager visitors to climb the sheer- walled canyon and peer into reconstructed cliff dwellings, known as kivas, where you can see prehistoric drawings.

Now, as part of its effort to privatize 850,000 federal workers, the Bush administration has decided to replace as many as 70 percent of full-time National Park Service jobs with private-sector employees and volunteers.

Critics rightly fear that replacing the Park Service's scientists with private consultants will result in a staff that is far less experienced in resisting commercial and political pressures. They also doubt that inexperienced volunteers can replace rangers, who are widely respected and admired for their friendly and educational services.

"The Park Service is not a business enterprise," Frank Buono, a former assistant superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park and a former manager of Mojave National Preserve, told the Los Angeles Times. "There is a fundamental ideological binge that the free enterprise system will heal all wounds and solve all problems. Ask Enron about the efficiency of the unregulated private marketplace."

Replacing federal workers may be a good idea in some instances. But so far, Secretary of the InteriorGale Norton has not made the case why a less professional and experienced staff would offer greater protection of the glorious natural wonders and treasures that we call our national parks.